This blog focuses on news and information regarding practice in the federal courts in the Eastern District of California, with a special emphasis on criminal and civil rights cases.

Blog Author

John Balazs is an attorney in Sacramento, California, specializing in criminal defense, including appeals, habeas corpus, pardons, expungements, and civil forfeiture actions. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1989, he clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John was an Assistant Federal Defender in Fresno and Sacramento from 1992-2001. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in clinical trial advocacy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Please email EDCA items of interest to Balazslaw@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @balazslaw.

Disclaimer

This blog is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. The law can change rapidly and information in this blog can become outdated. Do your own research or consult with an attorney.

August 08, 2014

EDCA Court Rules Documents In Lodi Police Shooting Death Case Should Be Public

A trove of documents related to the shooting death by Lodi police officers of an Army veteran earlier this year should be released to the public and the media, a federal magistrate judge ruled Friday.

Judge Allison Claire denied a motion by the city for a blanket “protective order” that would have kept confidential autopsy reports, witness statements, photographs and other information pertaining to the fatal shooting of Parminder Singh Shergill by police as he walked toward his mother’s home on the morning of Jan. 25.

Claire said the city failed to prove that it had the legal standing for the proposed protective order, which was labeled a “gag order” by Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who is representing the Shergill family.

Shergill, 43, a Gulf War veteran who suffered from schizophrenia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was shot dead by police as he walked toward his mother’s home in Lodi. His family had called police, as they had in the past, after he suffered a mental “episode” and left the house. They asked that officers pick him up and take him to a mental health facility.

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EDCA Court Rules Documents In Lodi Police Shooting Death Case Should Be Public

A trove of documents related to the shooting death by Lodi police officers of an Army veteran earlier this year should be released to the public and the media, a federal magistrate judge ruled Friday.

Judge Allison Claire denied a motion by the city for a blanket “protective order” that would have kept confidential autopsy reports, witness statements, photographs and other information pertaining to the fatal shooting of Parminder Singh Shergill by police as he walked toward his mother’s home on the morning of Jan. 25.

Claire said the city failed to prove that it had the legal standing for the proposed protective order, which was labeled a “gag order” by Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who is representing the Shergill family.

Shergill, 43, a Gulf War veteran who suffered from schizophrenia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was shot dead by police as he walked toward his mother’s home in Lodi. His family had called police, as they had in the past, after he suffered a mental “episode” and left the house. They asked that officers pick him up and take him to a mental health facility.